Layer issue

[Deborah]

I copied the original background layer so that of course the original stays that way, but I must have clicked on something that caused every change I make on the copied layer to automatically make the same changes to the background layer.

I tried shutting down Photoshop & reopening, didn't work. Tried restarting the computer, didn't work. What can I do to stop the changes to the copied layer from making changes to the background layer? Thanks!

[dv8_fx]

Sorry I have to ask this but are you certain you are not doing an edit on an empty layer above the two layers?

[salvadore]

You can turn the little eyeball off of the background layer.

Also make sure you have the duplicated layer selected, and one last option would be to make sure the background layer is locked! Use the little "lock" options in the layer pallet

[Hoogle]

so you have unlocked the layer have you possibly linked the original and duplicate layer together by any chance upload your psd if you like and we should figure it out

[Deborah]

Hi dv8_fx:
I'm sure I'm not editing on an empty layer above the two layers, it's just the two layers. To try to fix the problem, I did try adding a third layer (not even a duplicated one!) to see if it would still automatically make changes to the two layers below it, and it still made the changes to both layers beneath... I even tried closing the photo & opening a new one and the same thing is happening to that photo as well. Thanks for asking

[Deborah]

Hi Salvadore & Hoogle:
I tried turning off the eyeball on the background layer & changes still automated to that layer. The background layer was always locked (to try fixing the problem, I even tried unlocking, but it didn't work either, so re-locked & tried again to no avail). The layers aren't linked together. The same thing is happening when I open another photo & duplicate the background layer. Thanks for your suggestions - I appreciate it!

[Furio]

Can you do a simple test for me Deborah.

Open a new empty file, drop the Background layer on the Create a new layer icon as shown in this screenshot, make sure that this new layer named Background copy is the active layer (it will have a blue background if you use CS5).

Now grab the Brush Tool and place a random dot on this layer. When you do that, do you see that dot also appear on the Background layer in your layers palette? I'm not talking about your main windows in which you edit your image, I'm talking about the Layers palette that is labeled Layers in this screenshot.

[Deborah]

Thanks for taking the time to help, Furio. I followed your test, and the change still automated to the background layer (I clicked on the background layer in the layers palette & the dot was there). My layers used to work fine in the past until yesterday - don't know what I accidentally clicked on/did.

[Furio]

So you did this:

- create a new document
- drop the background layer on the new layer icon to create a second layer.
- you clicked only ONCE with the brush tool on this duplicated layer and the layers palette then looks the way it shows in the screenshot below?


If that's the case, then your Photoshop installation is simply messed and I would advise you to reset its preference file. In Windows you do this by quickly holding the Shift+Ctrl+Alt buttons all at the same time immediately(!) after you click on the Photoshop shortcut to start Photoshop (if you're on a Mac, use this instead: Command+Option+Shift). A new window will pop up asking "Delete The Adobe Photoshop Settings File?".

Answer with yes.

[Deborah]

Thanks everybody for all of your helpful suggestions. It turned out I was in the Design mode (don't know how I ended up there or why that made a difference), but the changes to the copied layer are no longer automating changes to the background layer since I switched back to the Essentials mode. Whew! Thanks again & have a great week!!